There are many more like them, and if this gruesome illustration reminds our readers that our firemen are every bit as deserving of praise as Thomas Atkins or Jack Tar it will not have been published in vain.
RECEIVING SUPERINTENDENTS' REPORTS.
Improvements are constantly being made in the apparatus of the brigade. There is a tendency to do away with the canvas shute once generally used on fire escapes. Commander Wells believes in ladders. He is striving to horse all escapes, an advantage which must strike the most casual observer of fire brigade work. At the present moment experiments are being made with telephonic street alarms. In the ordinary street alarm you smash the glass, press the button, which rings a bell in the nearest station, and wait till the engine comes. By the new plan it will be possible to speak directly through a telephone to the superintendent of the nearest station—an enormous advantage.
Needless to say the telegraphic and telephonic arrangements of the brigade are the most perfect in the world. One of our illustrations shows the gigantic switchboard, which directly connects the chief officer with the sixty odd stations situated all over London. The men at the tables are engaged in receiving the daily reports sent to the chief officer by the district superintendents.
The canteen van is now taken to every great fire. Formerly, when the men were working drenched to the skin for twelve or thirteen hours on end, they had no means of obtaining much-needed refreshment.
DUMMY FIRE AT HEADQUARTERS, WITH REAL SMOKE.
Commander Wells has altered all that. If the conflagration is one likely to keep the brigade going for some hours, the canteen takes up a convenient position and serves out hot cocoa or hot tea and other light refreshments.
